“Yeah, me too.” He hesitated. “Maybe we could do it again another night?”
“Definitely. Give me a call?”
“Will do.”
“Or…” She glanced at the clock on the dash. “It’s not very late. Would you like to come in for a drink?” The sparkle in her eye said there was more than a drink on the line.
He held her gaze in the blanched glow of the streetlights and swallowed. She was certainly attractive, and it wasn’t a lack of confidence—on his or her part—making him balk.
His pulse went crazy. This was the part where he was supposed to do something, wasn’t it? One of those crossroads that none of his prior dates had ever quite reached.
Everything had been going great so far, so what the hell?
He unbuckled his seat belt, leaned across the console and kissed her.
She slid a hand up into his hair, parting her lips and inviting more, and he pulled her closer.
And he felt…
Nothing.
Well, not nothing. But no fireworks. No spinning. No racing pulse.
No hurtling down a mountainside.
She’s not Dara.
He ran his fingers through Julie’s hair, which was curlier and shorter than Dara’s. Because she wasn’t Dara. He was on a date with Julie, for God’s sake.
And of course kissing Dara had been different. It had been the first time he’d been kissed by anyone in ages. And that had been on the heels of her offering to take him to bed. It only made sense for that kiss to make his head spin more than this one.
Except this one wasn’t making his head spin at all.
Julie drew back and met his gaze. “The, um, offer’s still open.” She gestured at her building. “For a drink.”
Oh God.
Despite all their chatting and their conversations tonight, when it came to this, he knew nothing about Julie. All those fears from before—Will I screw up? Will I hurt her? Will she think I’m clueless?—flooded his mind because there was no telling what anything would be like once they were in the bedroom together.
Or if it would be disappointing. Like kissing her.
Damn it. He wanted to want her.
But…
He forced a smile. “I probably shouldn’t. It’s a long drive.” Shit. What if she offers to let me stay the night so I don’t have to drive back so late? He muffled a cough. “And I’m a little rusty at the whole dating scene. Maybe we could take things slowly?”
With a slightly faltering smile, she nodded. “Okay. I’m fine with that. I’d definitely love to see you again, though.”
“I’ll give you a call.”
“Great.” She came across the console this time and kissed him. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Very soon,” he whispered.
They exchanged smiles, and then she got out of the truck. He waited while she went up the walk, and after she’d gone through the security door—pausing once to wave back at him—he pulled out of the parking space.
Should he have taken her up on the offer? Maybe it really would’ve been just a drink. Or, hell, maybe they would’ve slept together. He knew what he was doing now. They were grown adults—if they wanted to spend the night together, then who the hell cared?
In the parking lot’s driveway, he paused, glancing in the rearview as if the building’s reflection might have some answers.
Am I making a mistake?
No. Next date. One thing at a time. They’d just met.
And it had only been two nights since he’d had sex with Dara. Jumping into bed with another woman seemed weird. After all, how would Julie feel if she found out after the fact that Matt had been with another woman so recently? It was going to be challenging enough to eventually broach the subject of the baby, but he didn’t know how he felt about telling a woman he’d been casually sleeping with the baby’s mother. Though he supposed he could bring that up first, but that didn’t seem like very effective foreplay.
“Oh, by the way, before we go too much further, you should know that…”
That was probably about as much of a mood killer as that porn star pulling out and shoving his dick up the girl’s ass.
“But if you ever want to do a girl like that, you better be a goddamned gentleman about it.”
Maybe…
Maybe continuing with Dara was a bad idea if he was going to start branching out into actually meeting people. He had his confidence now, and she’d taught him enough that he wouldn’t be completely clueless in bed. And really, that was all they’d agreed to do, so maybe now was the time to bring that to a close.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dara’s stomach was wound up in knots as Matt’s truck pulled in the driveway. She hadn’t been expecting him, but last night was his date with Julie. Had it gone badly? She gnawed the inside of her cheek. Had it gone well?